Derby Della Madonnina
The Derby della Madonnina, also known as the Milan Derby is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan of Italy. Taking place at least twice during the year via the league fixtures, this cross-town rivalry has extended to the Coppa Italia, Champions League, and Supercoppa Italiana, as well as minor tournaments and friendlies. It is one of the only major crosstown derbies in association football that are always played in the same stadium, in this case the San Siro, as both Milan and Internazionale call San Siro "home". During the mid-1960s, Inter was the more successful club, winning the European Cup twice in a row and the Intercontinental Cup twice in a row. However, during the late 1980s and the 1990s, Silvio Berlusconi's Milan was the more dominant team, with many victories both in Italy and in the European competition. Then between 2005 and 2010 Inter dominated again with five scudetti and a Champions League. It is called "Derby della Madonnina" in honour of one of the main sights in the city of Milan, the statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the Duomo, which is often referred to as the "Madonnina" ("Little Madonna" in Italian). The first derby match between the two Milanese rivals was held in the final of the Chiasso Cup of 1908, a football tournament played in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on 18 October of that year; AC Milan won 2–1. History On 13 December 1899, Alfred Edwards and others founded the Milan Cricket and Football Club. Edwards, a former British vice-consul in Milan and a well-known personality of the Milanese high society, was the club's first elected president. Initially, the team included a cricket section, managed by Edward Berra, and a football section managed by David Allison. The Milan team soon gained relevant notability under Herbert Kilpin's guide. The first trophy to be won was the Medaglia del Re (King's Medal) in January 1900, and the team later won three national leagues, in 1901, 1906 and 1907. The triumph of 1901 was particularly relevant because it ended the consecutive series of wins of Genoa, which had been the only team to have won the title prior to 1901. On 9 March 1908, issues over the signing of foreign players led to a split and the foundation of Inter Milan. In the past, Inter was seen as the club of the Milan bourgeoisie (nicknamed bauscia, a milanese term meaning "braggart"), whereas Milan (nicknamed casciavit, meaning in the milanese dialect "screwdriver", with reference to the blue-collar worker) was supported mainly by working class.1 Because of their more prosperous ancestry, Inter fans had the "luxury" to go to the San Siro stadium by motorcycle ("muturèta," another nickname given to the Nerazzurri). On the other hand, the Rossoneri were also known as "tramvèe" (i.e. able to be transferred to the stadium only by public transport).2 Today, this difference has largely been mitigated, as Milan is now owned by former conservative Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and Inter was then-owned by a centre-left businessman Massimo Moratti. Brothers Giuseppe and Franco Baresi in the 1979–1980 derby In the 1960s, the Milan derby saw two big stars of Italian football come face-to-face. One of the most representative players of Inter was Sandro Mazzola, the son of former Torino player Valentino Mazzola who, along with most of his Torino teammates, died in the 1949 Superga air disaster after dominating Serie A for four seasons. His Milan counterpart was Gianni Rivera, nicknamed "Golden Boy" for his talent. This era saw brilliant derby matches and an increasing rivalry: while Milan won the European Cup in 1962–63, Inter followed with back-to-back success in the following years. Milan again won the title in 1968–69. During this successful period for both teams, Milan were coached by Nereo Rocco and Inter by Helenio Herrera, both coaching many notable players. The rivalry continued on the Italian national team, where two players from their respective clubs would often not play together, with one usually being substituted by the other at half-time. Rivera ended up losing the starting line-up to Mazzola in the 1970 final against Brazil, in which Italy was defeated 1–4 by the South Americans. He would later enter in the 84th minute after Italy were already far behind. Arguably Milan's greatest-ever era took place during the late 1980s and had extended through to the mid-1990s. Often hailed as the greatest-ever Milan side, the team stemming from the 1989 European champions managed by Arrigo Sacchi, contained legendary Milan players Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, amongst others. Milan's dominance, both domestically and internationally, had seen them capture four league titles and three European Cups (finishing runners-up two additional times) between 1989 and 1996. During this time, Inter had gone on to finish runners-up in the 1992–93 season (behind Milan) and won two UEFA Cups. "The San Siro would morph into a Pantheonon previous derby days—with Ronaldinho, Kaká, and Luís Figo all gracing the Derby della Madonnina. Each a former World Player of the Year." In the semi-finals of the 2002–03 season, both derbies finished in draws (0–0; 1–1), but Milan won on the away goals rule, as the away side in the second leg, despite both legs being played at San Siro. One of the most notorious derby matches was the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final on 12 April 2005. With Milan leading 1–0 thanks to an early Andriy Shevchenko goal and a 3–0 clear scoreline on aggregate, referee Markus Merk controversially disallowed a goal from Inter player Esteban Cambiasso. Inter's hardcore supporters became infuriated and various debris were subsequently thrown onto the pitch, but soon escalated to lit flares, one of which struck Milan goalkeeper Dida. Merk halted the match at the 74th minute. After a 30-minute delay in which firefighters were called in to remove the burning flares from the pitch, the match was restarted. Dida, however, was unable to continue and was substituted by Christian Abbiati. Less than a minute later, however, Merk finally abandoned the match after more flares and debris rained down. The match was awarded as a 3–0 victory, totaling a 5–0 aggregate, to AC Milan. Inter Milan were subsequently fined €200,000, the largest fine ever handed down by UEFA, and were ordered to play their first four Champions League matches behind closed doors in the 2005–06 season as punishment. Inter's long wait for a league title that began after 1989 finally arrived in 2006 (albeit controversially), when the Calciopoli scandal stripped Juventus of the 2005–06 title (as well as deducting points from Milan's final overall total) and handed it to the Inter, who were placed third behind both Juventus and AC Milan. This was seen as a controversial decision by many, as even though the title won the previous season by Juventus was also stripped, it was left un-awarded, which many felt should have also been the case with the 2005–06 title. Inter Milan went on to win the 2006–07 Serie A title as well in a season that saw Juventus relegated from the top division (with Inter acquiring several of the major players from Juventus' title-winning season), and Milan, as punishment, starting the season with negative points. Inter's triumphant campaign included a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories and victories in both fixtures against AC Milan. During the same season, however, AC Milan had captured their seventh European Cup/ UEFA Champions League, defeating Liverpool in the Final in Athens. On 15 February 2009, Inter Milan and AC Milan meet with winner will win Serie A. List of official matches Inter Milan win Draw AC Milan win | |} 1 2002–03 UEFA Champions League semi-final won by AC Milan on away goals rule. 2 2004–05 UEFA Champions League second leg quarter-final match abandoned after 72 minutes and UEFA awarding 0–3 win for AC Milan following Inter fans throwing flares onto the pitch. Biggest wins in official competitions Criteria: the winning team scored four goals or above with two or more goal difference from the defeated team. Milanedit * Milan 5–3 Inter on 27 March 1960 in Serie A * Milan 4–2 Inter on 26 June 1968 in Coppa Italia * Milan 5–0 Inter on 8 January 1998 in Coppa Italia * Inter 0–6 Milan on 11 May 2001 in Serie A* * Inter 2–4 Milan on 21 October 2001 in Serie A Interedit * Milan 0–5 Inter on 6 February 1910 in Serie A * Inter 5–2 Milan on 22 February 1914 in Serie A * Inter 5–2 Milan on 28 March 1965 in Serie A * Milan 1–5 Inter on 24 March 1974 in Serie A * Milan 0–4 Inter on 29 August 2009 in Serie A * Inter 4–2 Milan on 6 May 2012 in Serie A *'' All time goal difference record Head-to-head The following table lists the history of official meetings between Milan and Inter, updated to the most recent derby of 20 November 2016 (Milan-Internazionale 2–2) Trophies Key Top goalscorers '''AC Milan' Andriy Shevchenko, the top scorer of the Milan derby (14), and Giuseppe Meazza, the highest scorer of the Inter Milan (12)